Scaly leg mites

Katherine Tedder

Posts: 16

posted 3 years ago

Greetings Victoria! This is great timing for me to have you here.
I put leg bands on my older chickens today and saw that some had scaly leg mites.
What is the best way to treat them effectively?
I am trying to teach my son to care for our animals as naturally as possible.
Thanks for your expert answer.
Katherine

Jeanine Gurley Jacildone

pollinator

Posts: 1422

Location: Midlands, South Carolina Zone 7b/8a

17

posted 3 years ago

I do not have experience with leg mites..... but my first step would be do massage some diatomaceous earth into their feathers and on their legs.

Are the birds in a coop or pen? Do they roam outside? Do they have access to a dust bath?

If there is a coop or house that they live in I would strip all bedding, put in a dusting of lime and diatomaceous earth on all surfaces and put in all new bedding.

respirator masks should be used when handling the lime and diatomaceous earth, and the birds should not go back in until the dust has settled and new bedding in place - as it can affect their breathing as well.

I would be interested in hearing other peoples methods for dealing with this issue.

Dipping their legs in some oil (veg, olive, canola,etc.) Will suffocate the mites. You may have to do it a few times to clear it up. Mites unfortunately will continue to live on and wood and bedding in the coop, so I would try the above suggestion, or maybe try some oil in a pressure sprayer to give everything a good coat.

Soak their legs in neem oil. You want to suffocate the mites but sometimes if there are large crusty areas you will miss some of them so repeat the process a few times. Remember that the scales on the legs will continue to look rough until the chickens go through their moult.

Katherine Tedder

Posts: 16

posted 3 years ago

Thank you so much for the answers. Yes they do have a large coop as well as a large fenced in foraging area.
What a job this will be. I am going to start with neem oil.
Spraying the roosts with that as well. Think I'll try to isolate they. I have 20 that are almost six months old that I don't want to get them.
Is it hard to get rid if them? They are on my older birds; two year old Buffs. Have you had success with getting rid of them in your flock?

I would challenge you to a battle of wits, but I see you are unarmed - shakespear. Unarmed tiny ad: